I’m in the happy position of needing to replace a set of wheels and finding myself rather dynamo-curious, so whilst I’m building a new set of wheels, I could just as easily use one of the Alfine 501 hubs and get on with it, as just drop an Ultegra/XT in there. (Instinct says go with a SON hub, but that’s a kinda expensive way to experiment with dynamo’s).

Any thoughts/experiences either way on the Alfine 501 hub ? Clearly there is the additional weight / drag issue, but that’s a given with any hub dynamo. It’ll initially be on my Singular Osprey, so non-disc is fine.

It’ll almost certainly power Supernova E3 F&R lighting – I mostly ride pothole strewn back-country lanes, and non-technical ‘tracks’ of some sort (which are often indistinguishable from the beaten up tarmac road), so I need to see what I’m doing.

Plus it’ll be spring soon, and the appeal of long night time rides is calling, without having to consider battery life …

🙂

PD-8 hub for me I had an Alfine and it died after four months so replaced it with the PD shutter design disc hub and it’s as good as my son deluxe (on the touring bike) in terms of quality of build and rolling resistance and at £90 was a bargain for how much it’s been used and abused through in the last 18 months on and off road.

Mark, I can lend you a 29er Shimano dynamo disc front wheel if you want to see how you’d get on with a Shimano hub. People talk about the drag, but the likes of you and me would only notice it if we suddenly had to go from plodding around the lanes to doing a triathlon!

Slug wash has a point the amount of drag when your rolling is hardly noticeable if your on a mtb or even a cyclocross you only really notice it with modern dyno hubs when your on a normal road bike that’s unloaded or so I’ve found.

I have a PD8, very nice and smooth on the road. Not a huge amount more than an Alpine but a lot lighter and looks better!

I have now got 5 of the Alfine hubs (yes five). The oldest is a few years old and I’ve never had a problem with any of them. They are cheap (£50 each), work at low speed, happily run front and rear lights, will charge other devices, aren’t significantly heavier than anything else, look fine and build up easily. It’s great to get on any bike and not even think about lights and charging. Don’t even bother switching them off as the drag isn’t noticeable and I run b&m lights which are German road legal.

P.s. Have been used to Commute, tour, on road and off road ……..

Not got the alfine but just this winter put the xt dyno hub on my commuter / do it all bike.

It’s ace & genuinely a revelation.

No noticeable drag and lights which are always there and on which at this time of year is great. No worries about batteries fading or remembering where I put lights last time I took them off.

Will look to fit a charging circuit & a battery pack for charging phones & garmin for summer tour too. It’s ace and far cheaper than I first thought it would cost

You can get an XT dynamo hub for about 56GBP from Rose Bikes. The SP hub is smaller and neater but non-serviceable. The XT can be serviced, but is a bit bigger and heavier.

Will look to fit a charging circuit & a battery pack for charging phones & garmin for summer tour too. It’s ace and far cheaper than I first thought it would cost

What you need is a Busch and Muller like this
http://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/busch-mueller-lumotec-iq2-luxos-u-led-headlight-63073?currency=3&delivery_country=190&gclid=COWRyezAn8oCFQyNGwodufkF9Q
It’s cheaper then a lot of dynamo lights on its own but has USB charging and a cache battery built in. It works superbly both as a light and a charger.

I’ve had an Alfine dyno running flawlessly for about four years, touring and commuting so it’s seen all weathers. Feels notchy when you turn the hub by hand, but once it’s laced into the wheel and especially when you’re riding here’s no noticiable drag.

Shimano XT dynamo hub here, bought from Rose bikes. Massively impressed with it, you will never notice the drag. Quite curious to know how cannondaleking’s failed, must have been very unlucky, even the cheap £20 Shimano dynamo hubs are normally close to indestructable (hence the reason why you’ll see them on all the utility bikes in Europe, plodding along for years, never kept indoors and never getting serviced…)

The XT hub (T785 or 3N80) weighs about 100g less than the Alfine hub, and only costs about £8 more (from Rose). So I think its worth going for that.
Just make sure it is the 3W model, not the 1.5W, as that won’t be enough for bright lights.

Rose can do wheelbuilding as well, just email them what you want.

I found this article really useful when I was researching what to get

The key quote being “hub generator drag is equivalent to ascending only five or six feet per mile”

Very cool – thanks for all the info – there’s a lot of useful stuff therein.

Mr Slugwash, extra thanks for the offer of the loan wheel, that’s very kind of you, but … 🙄

… it seems I’m about to find out first hand, following a very tempting e-mail offer from earlier in the week that I found myself utterly compelled to take up (you may have had the same e-mail).

I kinda went all bunny-in-the-[dynamo]headlights and just went for it. It’ll be fine. (What’s the worst than can happen, et cetera).

On the maths, I won’t notice any difference, and as I’m getting on anyway, I can always fit a 34 on the back if I’m struggling.

😀